Thread cleaner



Nov. 28, 1939. ,G,ET 2,181,479

THREAD CLEANER Filed Aug. 22, 1939 JOHN G/ET HENRY M/EDE/VDO/Pfi JR.

ATTORNEY.

1N VENTQRS v Patented Nov. 28 1939 rATsN-r OFFlCE THREAD CLEANER John Giet, Jamaica, N.

Y., and Henry Miedendorp, Jr., Glen- Rock, N. J.

Application August. 22,

4' Claims.

This invention relates generally to improvements in thread cleaners for removing imperfections and: accumulations of wax, and other extraneous substances from threads, yarnsor the 5 like as the latter are being wound on quills or bobbins preparatory to weaving, but more speciiically to a non-adjustable metallic cleaner blade which will not rake, cut, chaf'e or injure the thread because. of the absence of: sharp edges and the provision of smooth slot walls.

It has heretofore been found that in single metallic cleaner blades, the edges;- or; corners formed between the slot walls andthebladefaces are sharp and/or irregular due to; either manufacturing deficiencies or to wear during operation. Such a condition tends tocut, rake or injure the thread and therefore necessitates the'uti-lization of thread guides mounted either on the cleaner bracket or on other machineparts, the said guides being disposed in alignment with the cleaner slot so that the thread passes: through the said slot? in a straight line without touching the irregular and/ or sharp corners thereof. Furthermore, the walls of the slot being either'milled orsawed con.- tain surface irregularities and, the thread although passing through these walls in astraight line nevertheless becomes chafed orotherwise injured and intensifies the irregularitieswith use, thereby giving the blades shorter life. no It has heretofore also been found that in replacing old or worn out single cleaner blades or in changing blades from one size to another, an excessive amount of trouble and length of time are expended reducing the amount of production per unit time.

The main object of the present invention therefore resides in. the provision of an integral, metalcseaner blade wherein the slot walls are polishcd and smoothed and the edges between the blade faces and the slot walls arerounded'to eliminate the raking, cutting and chafing of the thread; wherein the thread to be cleaned may pass through the blade slot at any angle thereby eliminating the use of a plurality of guides and pro- A5 ducing a cleaned thread which is not rough and irazaly; wherein means are provided on the blade to simplify and speedily remove and replace the on a bracket without the use of screws or nuts and belts.

.A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a metallic cleaner blade of the above nature which is simple to mount and operate, economical to manufacture and positive in its action in catching slubs, slugs, snarls, accumulations of wax, gums and bad knots.

1939, Serial No. 291,340

These objects and other incidental ends and advantages. of the invention will hereinafter appear in the progress of the disclosure and as pointed out in the appended claims.

' Accompanying this specification is a drawing showing a preferred form of the invention wherein corresponding reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein: I

Figure l, is a front plan view in elevation showing the. single, metallic cleaner plate mounted in a bracket, the latter being secured to a traverse bar on a machine such as a winding machine.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic View showing the construction of Figure 1 in section and showing the operation of the cleaning blade in conjunction with a winding machine.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the cleaner blade per Figure 4. is a longitudinal sectional view of Figure 3-along the plane i-4- thereof.

Figure 5 istransve'rse sectional View of Figure; 3 along the plane 55 thereof.

Ila-accordance, with the invention and in accordance with a preferred form thereof shown in the drawing, the; cleaner blade is associated with a machine such as a winding machine having a swift 5.0. containing av skein of thread or yarn I l, the latter passing through the cleaning blade l4 mounted. in abracket l5; and then being wound on a rotatable bobbin l3. Bracket l5 as shown is adapted to be secured to a reciprocating traverse bar- !2, it beingunderstocd that the traverse bar i2 is adapted to have mounted therealong a pluralityofi brackets each containing a cleaner blade, andthat-for eachbracket there is an independent swift and bobbin, the swifts and bobbins being mounted on common shafts.

The cleaner blade i4 is comprised of a body I6 preferably of hard steel composition and containing aboutone-tenth of one per cent of carbon. In: order that the blade it have the strength and rigidity necessary to resist any distortion and wear from the pressure, friction and tension of the thread passing therethrough, the stock of body 46 should preferably be substantially oneeighthof an inchthick. At the top of body it are guide faces I1 and I8 formed by the cutting-out of a re-entrant angle preferably of ninety degrees. Along the longitudinal axis and above the bottom edge of body It are securing recesses on both faces of body E5, the recesses as shown being in the form of an opening which is adapted to be engaged by a button or projection on bracket l5 thereby eliminating screw or nut and bolt attachment between the blade and the bracket. The securing recesses as shown are in the form of a drilled opening IS the perimeters of which are preferably countersunk as indicated by numeral 20.

Above opening l9 and. spaced therefrom is drilled a clearance hole 2|, the perimeters of which are preferably rounded as at 20, the said clearance hole 2| being joined by a central longitudinal slit or slot 23 milled or sawed in body l6 and extending from the junction of the guide faces I? and i8. The width of slot 23 is made from three thousandths of an inch to sizesas large as are necessary for larger threads to be cleaned.

Each wall of slot 23 is indicated by numeral 230, and each edge between said walls and the front and rear faces of body it is rounded as indicated by numeral 24. Moreover, the corners formed at the junction of the walls 23a of the slot 23 and the opening 2| are rounded as indicated by numeral 25 to form a V-shaped entrance from the opening 2i into the slot 23. A drilled hole 26 is provided in one side of the blade l4 adjacent the upper portion of slot 23 for purposes of receiving therein a pellet 2'! colored to indicate a specific size of the slot in the cleaner blade so that when a plurality of the same sized blades are mounted on a common traverse bar, the foreman or superintendent can readily check to see if the blades are all of the same size. Each of the side edges of blade 14 is preferably provided with a notch 42 adapted to be engaged by a suitable instrument for purposes of inserting and removing a cleaner blade in and from bracket 15 as will hereinafter be described.

After the blade has been formed as above described, it is put through a process of case hardening. The walls 23a. of slot 23 are thereafter polished to smooth out any irregularities thereon formed by saw marks, or milling tools in the cutting out of the slot. Heretofore such a polishing operation was rendered impractical and well nigh impossible because of the fact that case hardened steel is difficult of smoothing especially where a wall depth of one-eighth of an inch is involved. However, by reason of the rounded edges 24 of slot 23 the depth is reduced and polishing of the slot walls 23a is rendered feasible and practical.

Blade l4 when in use is adapted to be held in a resilient spring plate bracket i which consists essentially of a blade clamp portion 28 and a traverse bar clamp portion 29. The blade clamp portion 28 is provided with a button or projection 39 on its front wall, the said projection being adapted to snap into the recess or countersunk opening I9 and thus maintain the blade in vertical position. Moreover, to prevent lateral play of blade l4 within the blade clamp portion 28, the latter is provided with a pair of lateral lugs 4|. The blade 84 is preferably inserted in the blade clamp portion between lugs M by means of a suitable instrument such as a pair of tongs which engage notches 42 until projection 30 snaps into opening l9. The same instrument is used for removal of blade l4 from the blade clamp portion 28. Thus, a rigid and accurate fit is made between blade l4 and the bracket without the use of screws or nuts and bolts. Very little time is consumed to remove and replace blades.

The blade clamp portion 28 is provided with a roller or guide 33 secured in end journals 32, the said guide 33 being prevented from longitudinal displacement by means of lugs 4|. The

bracket l5. bar 12 are gripped by the resilient front and rear walls of clamp portion 29 of bracket l5. It

mclamp portion 29 whereby a downward thrust of clamp portion 29 is maintained against the The front and rear walls of traverse is consequently seen how bracket I5 is applied along the traverse bar l2 without the use of screws or nuts and bolts and firmly held thereon. Removal and application of clamp portion 29 from and to the traverse bar may be done with the hands. The cleaner blade bracket generally described hereinabove forms the subject matter of a separate application for patent filed contemporaneously with the instant application.

By referring to Figure 2 of the drawing, it is seen how blade I4 functions with the use of a single guide 32. Thread ll passes over guide or roller 33 and then is guided into slot 23 by guide faces I! and I8. Thread ll then passes directly from slot 23 on to bobbin l3. It is obvious that during the reciprocating movement of traverse bar l2 thread II will contact the edges 24 and walls 23a of slot 23. However, since edges 24 are rounded they serve as guides for the thread and since walls 230, are polished, no cutting, chafing, or injury will result. Moreover, the clearance hole 2| also has rounded edges to minimize possible injury to the thread. Thus, the thread need not have any guides in addition to roller 33 nor need the thread be maintained in slot 23 in a straight line.

We wish it understood that minor changes and variations in the material, shape, size and position of parts may all be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A thread cleaner comprising a bracket member having one portion for affixing the member to a support, an integral cleaner blade, a second portion carried by the bracket member for mounting the cleaner blade thereon, a thread guide roller secured to the bracket member, the cleaner blade being flat and being of treatment hardened steel substantially one-eighth of an inch in thickness and having an open ended narrow slot therein, the walls of said slot being straight and polished smooth to catch slubs or other imperfections and to eliminate thread catching irregularities, the edges of the slot being rounded to serve as cooperating guides with the thread guide roller when the thread contacts said edges at an angle during the cleaning operation thereby eliminating the necessity of the usual guides on both the swift side and winder side of the said cleaner blade.

2. A thread cleaner comprising a bracket member having one portion for aflixing the member to a support, an integral cleaner blade, a second portion carried by the bracket member for mounting the cleaner blade thereon, a thread guide roller secured to the bracket member, the cleaner blade being flat and being of treatment hardened steel substantially one-eighth of an inch in thickness and having an open ended narrow slot therein, the walls of said slot being straight and-polished smooth to catch slubs or other imperfections and to eliminate thread catching irregularities, the slot terminating at its inner end in a clearance hole and at its outer end in converging guide faces, the edges of the slot being rounded to serve as cooperating guides with the thread guide roller when the thread contacts said edges at an angle during the cleaning operation thereby eliminating the necessity of the usual guides on both the swift side and winder side of the said cleaner blade.

3. A thread cleaner comprising a bracket member having one portion for affixing the member to a support, an integral cleaner blade, a second portion carried by the bracket member for mounting the cleaner blade thereon, a thread guide roller secured to the bracket member, the cleaner blade being fiat and being of treatment hardened steel substantially one-eighth of an inch in thickness and having an open ended narrow slot therein, the walls of. said slot being straight and polished smooth to catch slubs or other imperfections and to eliminate thread catching irregularities, the slot terminating at its inner end in a clearance hole and at its outer end in converging guide faces, the edges of the slot being rounded to serve as cooperating guides with the thread guide roller when the thread contacts Said edges at an angle during the cleaning operation thereby eliminating the necessity of the usual guides on both the swift side and winder side of the said cleaner blade, the

said cleaner blade having means thereon to identify the size of the slot thereof.

4. A thread cleaner comprising a bracket member having one portion for affixing the member to a support, an integral cleaner blade, a second portion carried by the bracket member for mounting the cleaner blade thereon, a thread guide roller secured to the bracket member, the cleaner blade being fiat and being of treatment hardened steel substantially one-eighth of an inch in thickness and having an open ended narrow slot therein, the walls of said slot being straight and polished smooth to catch slubs or other imperfections and to eliminate thread catching irregularities, the slot terminating at its inner end in a clearance hole and at its outer end in converging guide faces, the edges of the slot being rounded to serve as cooperating guides with the thread guide roller when the thread contacts said edges at an angle during the cleaning operation thereby eliminating the necessity of the usual guides on both the swift side and winder side of the cleaner blade, the

said cleaner blade having engaging means for attachment to said bracket member.

JOHN GIET. HENRY MIEDEND'ORP, JR. 

